The charity shops have strict instructions to only hand out a phone number so the "homeless person" can be seen to and guided to a shelter.

I'm shocked by this but not surprised. The government tends to do everything it can to interfere with charity that doesn't flow through their coffers.

I was also involved in a firestorm disaster in California where my house burned down along with 1200 others (why I was homeless) and for 3 days there was no government intervention. The local Buddhist were handing out cash, the churches and the Red Cross was handing out bottles of water and the local stadium filled up with donated goods from the public. When the government did finally did enter the fray, their first act was to put a stop to most of the charity from the public sector. While the charitable organizations were freely handing out commodities and money, to receive anything from the government you had to provide identity documents and proof that you had been paying your taxes.

Central government is corrupt, divisive and parasitic. We'd be far better off without it.